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Eternal Zeal

It’s easy to get excited about stuff, but sometimes it’s difficult to get excited about the right stuff. We can take offense and build a case against politicians and those that support them. We certainly have no problem railing against those that have offended us. Can that same passion be turned internal to determine the possibilities within us?

After Jesus cleansed the temple in John 2, His disciples remembered the prophetic promise that “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Jesus had been zealously cleaning out the outer courts of the temple. Our outer courts are our soul. The mind, will and emotions of our design surround the inner courts of our spirit and, if we’ve allowed Him, His Spirit within us. How zealous are we to clean out the outer courts of ourselves? How passionately are we consumed with the working out of His Spirit within us out into the mind, will and emotions of our soul?

Zeal and passion are inherent in our design. We are intended to fully live. That is a legitimate component of our makeup. The hijacking of that intention, however, can be a zealous consumption focused on the houses of others. Jesus was taking care of His house; not the houses of others.

Unless and until we are zealous in our approach to the care of our souls and the release of His Spirit in us, we are not equipped to consider others. We cannot accurately assess their situation if we have not first tended to ours. We can be of no help to them if we haven’t considered the need for us.

Here is the catch: there is no end. The working out of Him in us requires daily death to us. We have to crucify the selfish desires of our soul to allow for Him to prevail in us and even when we get there, we wake up in need of the same crucifixion again tomorrow.

Legitimate leadership is sacrificial. Do you want to have a moral or spiritual authority that impacts that lives of others? Be zealous for the tending of your own house and it will make a way for them to do the same. When you bring your broom to their house for them, however, you’ll just be another self-righteous Pharisee.